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Hard work and happiness go hand in hand

The toilers are the satisfied ones. Iain Duncan Smith is a hero, not a villain, for pushing people back into jobs

Alice Thomson

July 25 2012, 1:01am, The Times

“The longer Levin mowed, the more often he felt the moments of unconsciousness in which it seemed not his hands that swung the scythe, but the scythe mowing of itself, a body full of life and consciousness of its own, and as though by magic, without thinking of it, the work turned out regular and well-finished. These were the most blissful moments.”

One of the most memorable scenes in Anna Karenina is the day Levin discovers work rather than love. As his brother wakes late, sips lemonade, swats flies and bores of being in the countryside, Levin learns to mow a meadow with the peasants. “It’s splendid,” he tells his brother, returning caked in sweat. “You can’t imagine what an effectual remedy it is for…